Luke 15:11 (YLT)

Passage

And he said, `A certain man had two sons,

Nearby Context

Luke 15:9 and having found, she doth call together the female friends and the neighbours, saying, Rejoice with me, for I found the drachm that I lost.

Luke 15:10 `So I say to you, joy doth come before the messengers of God over one sinner reforming.'

Luke 15:11 And he said, `A certain man had two sons,

Luke 15:12 and the younger of them said to the father, Father, give me the portion of the substance falling to <FI>me<Fi> , and he divided to them the living.

Luke 15:13 `And not many days after, having gathered all together, the younger son went abroad to a far country, and there he scattered his substance, living riotously;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "certain", and "sons". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "certain", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "So I say to you joy doth..." into verse 12's "and the younger of them said to...", so "said" and "certain" belong inside that flow. In Luke context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "said" and "certain" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.